Be Your Everything

s e v e n t y o n e

The next morning, I wake up to the sound of Calum cursing downstairs. Confused and still half-asleep, I wander down the stairs to find him in the kitchen standing over the stove, repeatedly swearing and hissing as I hear the sound of bacon crackling in the pan.

"Good morning," I say groggily. Despite my exhaustion, I'm in a great mood. Today is the day we get to move forward and pretend that the last few days never happened. Like it was all just one bad dream.

"Shit- hey gorgeous," Calum looks over his shoulder at me and smiles. "This cooking thing harder than it looks. I keep fucking burning myself."

"Let me help," I walk over and turn the heat on the stove down. "First of all, maybe don't crank the gas up all the way. You'll burn the food."

"My bad," he says in relief as the grease in the pan begin to sizzle less. "You hungry?"

"No, but I should probably eat something." I honestly feel nauseous just looking at the bacon, but Calum went through the trouble of trying to cook, so I want to at least try it.

"I made eggs too." He nods toward the pan filled with scrambled eggs and grins with pride. "Those came out good actually."

"Don't mind if I do." I pull down two plates from the cabinet and two forks from the drawer. "Want me to fix you a plate?"

"That'd be great," Calum smiles over his shoulder at me, his eyes following my every move. "This is nice."

"Yeah," I set the plates down on the counter next to him and wrap my arms around his waist, hugging him from behind while he cooks. "I could get used to this."

"Used to what?" He chuckles as I drop my arms from him and begin filling our plates with eggs.

"Starting the morning with you," I say dreamily. "Not just hiding in bed until the last possible second and then rushing to hide our relationship the moment we get out of bed."

"It's still gonna be tricky keeping us out of the press, but now that tour is over, it's a lot easier to keep a low profile." Calum walks over to me and places three strips of bacon onto each of the plates on the counter.

"We'll manage until the contract ends," I promise him while reaching for the plates, but he takes both of them before I can get a grip on either and walks our breakfast over to the table. I walk behind him and sit down after he pulls out my chair for me, and for a while, we enjoy our breakfast in silence.

. . . . .

I can't breathe.

Get out of the car already so you can get this over with. You know you have to anyways.

"You don't have to do this," Calum whispers as I stare out the window. The worn-down brick of the building isn't what's repelling me; it's what's waiting once I go in.

I don't want to do this... but I have no choice.

"Elle," Calum grabs my hands and waits for me to look at him, "you need to know something. When I was fourteen, my sister went through this. She and the guy she was dating weren't careful and well... she got an abortion and only ever told my mum and me. She was depressed for months, and she still considers it the biggest mistake of her life."

"Why would you tell me this?" I ask with tears rolling down my cheeks. His story about Mali only made me feel worse about this whole situation.

"I promise, I'm not trying to make you feel guilty." He wipes the tears from my eyes and tilts my chin up. "But I don't think I can handle watching you go through what Mali did. She was so much more sure of her decision and it still tore her apart. I love you, Elle, I swear I do with my whole heart. You're not alone, and I will never let you be alone."